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Forest Health Assessments and Management Plans

County-owned Lands

The Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability (EPS) conducts Forest Health Assessments and prepares Forest Management Plans for large County-owned forested areas in order to guide actions to maintain the health of forests for ecological functions and high-quality passive recreation. A Licensed Forester under contract to EPS conducts quantitative assessments using the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service NED model. More than 2,600 acres of County-owned forestlands have been assessed:

Oregon Ridge Park (2006, 895 acres)

Lower Back River Peninsula (2009, 884 acres)

Pottery Farm Park (2010, 227 acres)

Cromwell Valley Park (2011, 164 acres)

Marshy Point Park (2011-2012, 331 acres)

Villa Nova Park (2012, 138 acres)

Assessments include overstory, understory, and ground layer structure and species composition for distinct forest stands. Data is collected for dozens of forest condition measures, including basal area, stand relative density, regeneration, Undesirable Growing Stock (UGS), and other measures. These data allow recommendations to be made regarding restoration and maintenance of forest health, including restoring native oak dominance, enhancing the existing Old Growth forest stands, and controlling invasive and diseased species such as sweetgum.

General Findings of Forest Health Assessments

Forest stands are even aged, mature (100 to 120 or more years), and lack vertical structure.

Overstories are losing historical oak dominance, which is critical to providing habitat for migrant songbirds and to providing water quality functions including cycling of nutrients in the forest.

Canopy closure is high so as to preclude oak regeneration and to favor shade-tolerant species such as maple.

Stands are overstocked (overcrowded), with high basal area and relative density, resulting in vulnerability to forest pests and diseases.

Deer impact on forests is severe in some areas (deer browse averages 8.8 pounds per deer each day for eight months, and deer consume 2.2 pounds of acorns per deer each day in the fall and winter).

Stands include a high percentage of UGS, trees with poor form and condition with high risk for early mortality.

Why Does Oak Dominance in Our Forests Matter?

“If the oak forest goes to maple and birch and yellow poplar, why does it matter? It matters because the wildlife that we enjoy in eastern forests, that whole vast community, is dependent on hard seed trees, and that’s been true for 10,000 years.”

Bill Healy, Research Wildlife BiologistUSDA Forest Service (retired)In “Acorns: Masters of the Forest,” by Mary-Russell RobersonSmithsonian Institution Zoogoer, July to August 2007

Completed Forest Health Assessment and Management Plans

Data appendices are available by request only. To request a copy of either report, please email ahaig@baltimorecountymd.gov. Completed assessments and management plans are currently available as follows: